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Top Secrets of Pizza Delivery Drivers

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All the pizza places near me started charging a delivery fee, so I refuse to order pizza anymore. That plus tip and tax turns a $10 into a $20 purchase.

A lot of people say conflicting things about that delivery fee. Some say you should still tip, some say no since that covers it... but I don't trust those companies to actually give it to the delivery guys.
 
Interesting read. Whenever I get pizza delivered I usually tip $3 or around ~20%. If I have a free pizza coming to me for whatever reason, I just do carryout instead so i don't have to tip. Personal rule #1: don't stiff anyone who has access to your food. This doesn't mean tip 20%, but definitely no lower than 12.

All the pizza places near me started charging a delivery fee, so I refuse to order pizza anymore. That plus tip and tax turns a $10 into a $20 purchase.

A lot of people say conflicting things about that delivery fee. Some say you should still tip, some say no since that covers it... but I don't trust those companies to actually give it to the delivery guys.

I've heard almost unanimously that the delivery fees don't go to the driver. At best they go towards off-setting the cost of gas I think.
 
Interesting read. Whenever I get pizza delivered I usually tip $3 or around ~20%. If I have a free pizza coming to me for whatever reason, I just do carryout instead so i don't have to tip. Personal rule #1: don't stiff anyone who has access to your food. This doesn't mean tip 20%, but definitely no lower than 12.



I've heard almost unanimously that the delivery fees don't go to the driver. At best they go towards off-setting the cost of gas I think.

Seriously. I don't fuck with people who prepare or handle my food. I'm always polite and tip well.
 
I've heard almost unanimously that the delivery fees don't go to the driver. At best they go towards off-setting the cost of gas I think.

Not a dime goes towards gas.
Here's how the rates work in my store (franchise Dominoes):

Delivery fee is $3
Driver gets $1.50 for the first delivery (single), $1.25 for the second (double), and then .75 for every delivery thereafter(triple and beyond). So if they take three deliveries in a row, that's $3.50.

It's total horse-shit. Still, the good outweighs the bad. Though I gotta say, approaching the 10 year mark is kinda depressing (I started as a college kid).

Also, I've only been robbed once and I smoked weed twice (as in twice in my entire life).
 
One kid I knew at high school was always real stoned when driving around doing deliveries for dominoes. He was the anti-elephant in that scenario.
 
This list is so fucking flawed. Only these are true:

Pizza Delivery Driver Secret #6: There are the college kids, and there are the lifers.

Pizza Delivery Driver Secret #7: Pizza delivery drivers do a lot more than just bring your food.

Everything else is completely wrong.

No, it's mostly all true.

Also, if the place has their own delivery vehicles, the driver gets none of that.
 
If you order delivery pizza enough for someone to actually know you, you may have some problems.


Guess I can be classified as a lifer by now. Over the past year of so I've noticed a drastic increase in the amount of people I see every day I work (5 days a week). We've got one woman who orders every day around lunch time who orders 2 2-liters of soda every day. I like pop but I can't imagine pounding 1 of those daily, let alone 2.

One story that sticks out was working late one night and opening the next day. I delivered to a condo on one of my last deliveries on the late night. Got home and decided to go to bed instead of eat dinner. Also decided to sleep in instead of get up and make a breakfast, figuring I'd just eat lunch earlier than normal at work. That condo was one of the first deliveries that day. I even told the customers that they would be eating Domino's twice in the span that I've had anything to eat.
 
It's odd, I've ordered probably about a hundred different fast food items over the last few years and I've only had the same delivery driver return twice. I know for a fact that all my local places use multiple delivery drivers anyway so you're already cutting down your odds even if it wasn't for the extreme staff turn over. I can only assume it's different in the US.

I still tip if people turn up early (and a little if just on time), but it's absolutely pointless.
 
easy tipping advise..

If the bill comes out to $15,

1.5 is 10%, just double it to make it %20 ($3.00)

Forget change and round up, It makes it easier, especially when tipsy.

29 dollars? (2)3.0 = $6.00 tip

Why make it complicated 2 dollars for every 10 spent how I roll
 
For delivery people: are credit/debit card tips frowned on? I tend to order with my debit card, and then write the tip on the receipt once the delivery guy gives it to me. My delivery guys have always been happy with my tips, but I wonder do you guys prefer cash?
Hell no. I hated keeping track of the cash, plus just psychologically the CC tips felt like money out of thin air when clocking out.
 
If you are a very good tipper (3+ dollars), your driver will be more than happy to pick up beer or cigarettes at the convenience store on the way to your house if you ask nicely.
This doesn't seem right to me.
 
Pizza Delivery Driver Secret #3: They know the dirt on all the local rental properties.

Not only do pizza delivery drivers get robbed, they often bear witness to a lot of local filth, crime, and poverty. Even the nicest delivery area has its dreaded spots. If you're in the market for a new apartment (or even a new house), ask a pizza delivery driver friend for the dirt on the place before you sign the lease.

I have my pizza boy on speed dial so this advice is practical.

What am I going to do, go into fucking Domino's and ask who's delivered to XXXX at XXXX before?
 
I have my pizza boy on speed dial so this advice is practical.

What am I going to do, go into fucking Domino's and ask who's delivered to XXXX at XXXX before?
Um, see how the word friend is in there?

It means if you have a friend who is a pizza delivery driver, they are a good source of this sort of information. And it is correct.
 
Some of my friends used to work at places that delivered, so I am well-aware of #4 (especially at places like Jimmy John's).

Edit: Shit, I just found out that I don't have to tip like I would for a waitress. My tips are always at least 4 dollars, unless it's a really small order. Then again, I do get my food pretty quickly.
 
I usually end up tipping $3-4, depending on how fast they got here. $5 if there is bad weather outsides, regardless on how long they took.
 
I've worked out recently that my local pizza guy has been over-charging me, which is a particularly cunty act because I always tip decently - usually around $5. But every time I've gotten lately pizza he's (always same guy) it's always been more than what the menu says is the cost, and I'm tipping on top of that. I jumped on today to check online in case I had an old menu, turns out that while the price has gone up (new delivery fee) he added double what it should have been. Sure it's small change but I've been buying there for two years and it's a bullshit way to treat a good customer.

So fuck you, delivery guy. You're getting my ass pennies from now on.
 
This list is so fucking flawed. Only these are true:

Pizza Delivery Driver Secret #6: There are the college kids, and there are the lifers.

Pizza Delivery Driver Secret #7: Pizza delivery drivers do a lot more than just bring your food.

Everything else is completely wrong.

So .88 cents is an acceptable tip?

I got that feeling too, especially about the drugs and mugging aspects. I've never been a driver but I doubt every one of them does drugs. Pot maybe, but that's not a drug :p

hurr durr. Yes it is a drug.
 
I try to tip 20% if i'm having a bunch of people over and we get more food I will bounce that up to 25 or sometimes even 30% (once ordered $200 worth of food after a bbq ended up being a 10am to 3am affair.)

I don't mind tipping them since they are driving you your food. I hate tipping in a resturant
 
Not pizza, but a JJ's delivery driver here. For a couple of years now.

Pizza Delivery Driver Secret #1: It's a boys' club.

JJ's has a tendency to hire a lot of girls (usually younger and decent-to-good-looking). Many of them do deliver.

Pizza Delivery Driver Secret #2: They get robbed, even in "nice" neighborhoods.

Don't think anyone I've worked with his ever actually gotten mugged. I work in a mid-sized town and there are some bad areas, but I've never seen it happen. We tend to deny deliveries that are to be "picked up" at a location away from the person's residence or business.

Pizza Delivery Driver Secret #3: They know the dirt on all the local rental properties.

I guess? I could give you some good generalizations and there are a few regular customers who have some clear personal issues/substance habits, but if you need to move into those properties you probably can't afford anything better anyway.

Pizza Delivery Driver Secret #4: They do more drugs than your mom in the sixties.

Nah. Pot? Yeah, definitely, but rarely on the job. Alcohol? Same. Some of my co-workers do recreational drugs, but it is all on their free time and I don't know anybody who does meth or crack or anything.

Pizza Delivery Driver Secret #5: Anything less than a dollar is a stiff.

I generally look at it this way, myself. Our product generally costs less than a pizza, so I think a lot of people get the impression that they don't have to tip as much. I've even had people order 30-40 dollars worth of food and still tip a buck. IMO, there are two things that separate a delivery driver's job from that of a waiter/waitress and we generally get tipped less:

1) The driving itself. We have to travel a lot farther to get to you, pay for gas, worry about car maintenance (I don't know one person I work with whose car hasn't broken down at some point or another), deal with the potential dangers of driving and the general stress of bad drivers and traffic.

2) We do more. When it's super busy, we may be running in and out of the store, constantly on the road. But even then, we are often involved in every other part of the process. Countless times, I've actually taken someone's order over the phone, made it myself, ensured that everything was in the bag/box before leaving, and delivered it to their door. Waiters/waitresses undoubtedly have their own cleaning tasks and whatnot to take care of, but they aren't back in the kitchen making your food, too.

Pizza Delivery Driver Secret #6: There are the college kids, and there are the lifers.

Unfortunately true.

Pizza Delivery Driver Secret #7: Pizza delivery drivers do a lot more than just bring your food.

See above.

Pizza Delivery Driver Secret #8: Delivering pizza does terrible things to your social life.

It can. I have a pretty decent social life since I rarely work nights or weekends at this point (pursuing other interests) and don't go to school. Plus our branches aren't open past 10 at night. Sure I don't make as much money as I could, but there are a lot of other factors involved in how much I can/want to work right now.

Pizza Delivery Driver Secret #9: Once a pizza delivery driver, always a pizza delivery driver.

As much as I might hate the job sometimes, and as much as I wish I made a lot more money doing it, there will undoubtedly always been a certain mentality that sticks with me. You do sharpen your driving skills and learn how to react to other people on the road. You will always have a sense of urgency (at least to the good tippers) and, at least in your local area, will learn the streets like the back of your hand.
 
I delivered pizza for almost 5 years in college. I agree with all of those except number 4. Not sure why the author thinks pizza joints are drug dens. You definitely have stoner types, but that's to be expected of college-age people.

In college, by being a driver all those years I managed to get a great apartment, almost get robbed at least once, I picked up cigarettes and groceries for customers, became a far, far, far better driver than most people, learned to quickly memorize directions and get city layouts down in my head. I got jobs at other pizza places, but they sucked, I learned, and I was back to my old job within 2 weeks each time.. I'm sure there are more I'm not thinking of.

I loved doing it, honestly, although I don't think I'd really want to go back to it nowadays. It's brutal on your car. A big chunk of your tips mostly go towards gas money. I mainly worked for a local place. I had brief stints at Papa Johns and Pizza Hut, though. I'd love to open my own pizza shop some day. Maybe when I'm older or closer to retiring or something...
 
If they're lifers, they're doing it wrong.

I KNOW, you don't HAVE to tell me my life sucks. I know these things. I hate my job but I guess I'm a lifer now. Honestly its not hard and I make decent money, I just know I can't get anything better. I'll probably die doing this job.
 
Former Dominos driver here. Best job I ever had. I worked in a weird area. About half our customers were high middle class and the other half were extremely ghetto low income people who lived in projects.

People surprise me. Sometimes they act exactly how you think they would, and sometimes they give a lot more than they should.

I've gotten $0 tips going to a 5-6 acre property with at least 4 cars parked. Then I've gone to ghettos and gotten 5$ on a $14.96 order.

Job was crazy.
Oh and the competition was intense with other drivers. In case you don't know how it works, when orders are placed try show up on the computer in order of time since they were placed. On the right of that is the name of every driver as they clock back in after a delivery. So everytine you come back to the store you clock in and your name goes to the bottom.
Well eventually you learn exactly how long it would take to get a certain delivery. So say you leave for delivery and a good delivery is coming in 13 minutes, and about two minutes ago another driver left on delivery, then you are both now competing to get back to the store and get that guarantees tip.
I have no idea how fast we would go on them streets.
Shit our store was next to a major street so we had a lot of runway to practically drag race on to get back to the store. Crazy times.

Oh and I got stopped for speeding about 8 times in my year as a driver. One time I even had D on me. But the second the cops see that blue bag next to me they would always let me go with a warning. Crazy

Damn, If dominos wouldn't have made me use my own car I would have stayed there for a bit longer. Coming home with cash everyday was awesome.
 
Considering they charge like $10 here to deliver a pizza, the driver usually just gets the change (Give them $25 for a $24.50 order).

Where is that?
We used to charge a $2 delivery charge.
I would get about $1.50 of that. And when doing 2 or more at the same time about 1$ per delivery
 
Do you guys tip delivery drivers using a % of the bill like waitresses or just give a flat rate?
When I order pizza I generally tip no less than $5. $6 if its raining. I just take my bill and add $5 to it. if that ends up with my bill being like $28, i will round it up to $30. Only time I'll go below that is if its over an hour, then I'll do $3 or so.
 
I tip based on personality. If he looks me in the eye, smiles, and says something along the line of "here's your pizza, sir!" and does so jovially, that motherfucker is getting at least $5.

If I open the door and he mumbles "uhhh pizza" and can't even look at me, I'll give him a dollar.
 
I always tip well. Except for a rare occasion when it took a fucking hour and a half to get a pizza delivered from a restaurant that was down the road and the driver was a total asshole.
 
I still wonder why people think it's ok to tip Pizza Deliverymen.

Out of fear that they're gonna fuck over your pizza next time? Maybe it's because I'm not some fat ass/ "rolling in the money" guy who orders pizza every week but I have NEVER seen the same Pizza Person more than once. (Same with Waiters actually)

It's a simple, low paying, unprotected job so there's a high-rate of firing and hiring for it. Gets really sad when you see someone in their 40s and up doing it though ... that's becoming more common. Like to think that they're mangers taking over for the job because it's not busy that night :/
 
I still wonder why people think it's ok to tip Pizza Deliverymen.

Out of fear that they're gonna fuck over your pizza next time? Maybe it's because I'm not some fat ass/ "rolling in the money" guy who orders pizza every week but I have NEVER seen the same Pizza Person more than once. (Same with Waiters actually)

It's a simple, low paying, unprotected job so there's a high-rate of firing and hiring for it. Gets really sad when you see someone in their 40s and up doing it though ... that's becoming more common. Like to think that they're mangers taking over for the job because it's not busy that night :/

I tip because it's the nice thing to do. it's not like I eat out or order delivery very often, so what's an extra five bucks to make someone's day a bit better?
 
I did pizza delivery for a few months. Waiting tables is a better gig despite the amount of stress and cranky needy people you may have to deal with at times.
 
Female pizza delivery drivers? Is there such a thing?

We ordered a pizza in Buffalo, NY at 1am. At 2am a girl who was maybe 19 showed up alone in the middle of the night. It made me very uncomfortable with regard to her safety.

Discussed with someone else who said I was discriminating and she was fine. I see both sides, but I dunno...
 
I usually tip the cost of a gallon of gas. I usually pickup the pizza sine the place is down the street. I tip then too, it shows since they know me by name always make my food good and toss me a beer or two if I have to wait
 
Used to deliver Chinese. Pretty good job, but the tips made it worthwhile.
Richer parts of town were always the worst people though, hardly tipped and acted like assholes.
And i just have to say, if you're a regular it really helps if you tip a decent amount, and i'm just talking 15% or something here, we remember that and make sure we will bump you in front of the cue in favour of people who tip jack shit.
I usually tip 2-3 euro on a 8 euro pizza.
 
I still wonder why people think it's ok to tip Pizza Deliverymen.

Out of fear that they're gonna fuck over your pizza next time? Maybe it's because I'm not some fat ass/ "rolling in the money" guy who orders pizza every week but I have NEVER seen the same Pizza Person more than once. (Same with Waiters actually)

It's a simple, low paying, unprotected job so there's a high-rate of firing and hiring for it. Gets really sad when you see someone in their 40s and up doing it though ... that's becoming more common. Like to think that they're mangers taking over for the job because it's not busy that night :/

Not sure why you really posted this, but I tip my driver because I not only value their time, but the fact that they are continually putting wear and tear on their own vehicle for less than minimum wage because I want some junk food. I'm not buying protection here, and if you truly believe that is why most people tip, then I'd say you're out of touch.

For the record, you may not see the same driver again, but your new driver will likely know from previous ones if you tip well or not. No driver that I've ever seen will waste their energy on messing with someone's order because they don't tip, but they will make your order a lower priority if they have more than one to deliver - it's simply what makes the most sense to them in that situation.
 
Reading this thread one thing stood even more out, you deliver with you own car and pay for gas?

I have been working part time at a pizza chain since november doing a bit of everything, but mostly driving. Drive brand new cars with the logo on the outside and a big cargo area for transporting buns and some times huge orderes. Don't know of any bad neighborhoods for now (Tromsø) and tipping is rare. I've worked since only once gotten tip and it was 10NOK. My wage is a regular minimum wage.

The biggest issue so far is that the GPS likes to show a route through bus roads or even worse a walkway, but I guess I should be happy I have a GPS.
 
Reading this thread one thing stood even more out, you deliver with you own car and pay for gas?

Own car? Yes.

Pay for gas? Well, yes, but usually chains will give drivers a certain amount of money per delivery to offset that expense.
The biggest issue so far is that the GPS likes to show a route through bus roads or even worse a walkway, but I guess I should be happy I have a GPS.

I used to deliver on a military base and there was no GPS because much of it was new housing.
 
I still wonder why people think it's ok to tip Pizza Deliverymen.

Out of fear that they're gonna fuck over your pizza next time? Maybe it's because I'm not some fat ass/ "rolling in the money" guy who orders pizza every week but I have NEVER seen the same Pizza Person more than once. (Same with Waiters actually)

It's a simple, low paying, unprotected job so there's a high-rate of firing and hiring for it. Gets really sad when you see someone in their 40s and up doing it though ... that's becoming more common. Like to think that they're mangers taking over for the job because it's not busy that night :/
Oh, you're one of THOSE people.


Tell me, what's wrong with someone in their 40s making $17 an hour?
 
Reading this thread one thing stood even more out, you deliver with you own car and pay for gas?

I have been working part time at a pizza chain since november doing a bit of everything, but mostly driving. Drive brand new cars with the logo on the outside and a big cargo area for transporting buns and some times huge orderes. Don't know of any bad neighborhoods for now (Tromsø) and tipping is rare. I've worked since only once gotten tip and it was 10NOK. My wage is a regular minimum wage.

The biggest issue so far is that the GPS likes to show a route through bus roads or even worse a walkway, but I guess I should be happy I have a GPS.

We had the option. use your own car or use a company car.
and i'm feeling old as fuuuuck for having to say this.
When i was delivering we didn't had GPS, good old fashioned paper maps baby.
 
Oh, you're one of THOSE people.


Tell me, what's wrong with someone in their 40s making $17 an hour?

No benefits. Little job security. Inconsistent income. Inconsistent hours. Etc.

It's a great job for a 20 year old.

The standard is different for a 40 year old.
 
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